Pastor and radio host E.W. Jackson says that hate crime laws are made to allow gay people to be able to seduce straight people without retaliation, according to a video shared by Right Wing Watch on Twitter Tuesday.
In the video shared Tuesday from his talk show The Awakening, the pastor said that he believes hate crimes were created so that homosexuals can be protected from straight peoples’ retaliation.
Right-wing radio host and pastor E.W. Jackson says that hates crimes laws are designed to allow gay people “to try to seduce people without [straight people] being able to retaliate.” pic.twitter.com/RCJDuCXiLC
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) June 8, 2021
“Say, for example, some homosexual approaches a man who is heterosexual, touches him the wrong way, does something the wrong way, and the man pushes him or maybe punches him, or just responds in an angry way without thinking—that then becomes a hate crime, and I think that’s what a lot of this stuff is intended to protect against,” he said.
The conservative pastor said that hate crime laws allow homosexuals to have more “freedom and latitude” to approach people “and seduce people without them being able to retaliate.”
He clarified that he does not believe hate crime laws are intended solely for that purpose, but that hate crime laws are created based on prior incidents, such as the one he described.
The responses on Twitter were mostly filled with opposition. “Been my experience that gays do take ‘no’ for an answer,” replied one Twitter user.
Another comment mentioned the death of Matthew Shepard, a University of Wyoming student who was found dead after being beaten and left to die. The user said that Jackson’s claims were justifying “violent sociopaths who murdered Matthew Shepard,” whose death had sparked the creation of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, signed into effect by former President Barack Obama in 2009.
This is not the first time Bishop Jackson has gathered attention for his beliefs. In 2019,he spoke outwardly against homosexuality, saying that the use of the rainbow symbol was blasphemy.
“The rainbow was given to us by God as a sign that he would not destroy the earth by water again, and you’re going to appropriate that as pride in homosexuality? Are you kidding me? Talk about blasphemy. Talk about arrogance. Talk about boldness. Talk about shaking your fist in God’s face.”
In April, he claimed that the Black Lives Matter movement was worse than COVID-19, saying that the long-term effects of the movement in the U.S. were going to be worse than the pandemic.
“COVID is a medical problem and a disease problem that is going to run its course,” Jackson said. “I think Black Lives Matter could so infect the culture of our country, so divide us racially that it could take a generation to undo the damage they are doing.”
Bishop Jackson is also the founder of S.T.A.N.D Foundation, a right-wing nonprofit organization intended to educate and unite under conservative beliefs.
Newsweek reached out to Bishop Jackson for additional comment.
